Dear Editor:

Please allow me space in the Broadside to respond to comments made in the festival issue by Scott Schillereff and Neil Rosenberg in the article 25 Years: The Evolution of a Folk Festival. While I'm not connected in any official capacity with the Folk Festival or the Folk Arts Council, I've played 18 out of the last 24 festivals. I've also been on the SJFAC Board of Directors in the early eighties and again in the early to mid-nineties, including several years on the Programming Committee. Although the article is a bit of a jumble, Scott and Neil seem to have opposite views of what the festival should be, and I just can't let these comments go unchallenged.

A well placed phone call or a little research would have shown that, contrary to Scott's contention that "other" types of music are not well represented at the festival, ("....the festival doesn't include [country music] in the programming"), even a glance at this year's program tells a different story. There were several country acts on the main stage this year, as in previous years. Some years there have been country music sessions featuring local country performers. In addition, there were blues, jazz, and a variety of trad-rock groups. But where does this end? Sure, Newfoundlanders like country music. We also like heavy metal, rock, opera and reggae. Should this all be included in the folk festival lineup? This festival started as a way to put Newfoundland traditional music on stage because, unlike other forms of popular music, including country, it had no other consistent and reliable venue. It still doesn't, notwithstanding what passes for Newfoundland traditional music in the downtown pub scene. In the meantime, we've seen other festivals in the province fold because they've tried to be all things to all people. I think we need to give the committee credit for being able to achieve a balance among the diverse preferences of committee members, performers, and audiences.

As for why Simani hasn't played more often at the festival; for the record, the group played at the Folk Festival twice, the 14th in 1990 and again at the 17th in 1993. I personally know of another half dozen times when they were invited, but the fact is they demanded an astronomical fee by Folk Festival standards. They played in '90 and '93 because they already had gigs in Paradise and Mt. Pearl respectively, so we could get them at a reduced rate, albeit a rate higher than any ever paid to performers before or since. The policy of the festival since it started to pay performers has been to pay every act the same fee, a policy which treats every act as equally important whether they're "big names" or not. I support this policy, and believe it to be consistent with the ideals of the early folk festivals. Is the suggestion here that we blow the budget on one or two acts?

The festival stands accused of being "Avaloncentric", and it may well continue to be so. The festival is, after all, located in St. John's and over half the population of the province lives on the Avalon Peninsula. In my experience, however, folk festival committees do their utmost to make sure other regions of the province are represented. Sometimes they succeed, and sometimes they don't, for reasons ranging from lack of funding and the exorbitant cost of inter-provincial travel to the timing of local festivals or events. Non-professional performers in particular have family or work schedules to meet and would often prefer to appear at their own regional festivals. It would be easy to drop "Newfoundland and Labrador" from the title and thereby remove the onus on being a provincial festival, but I think the SJFAC takes its wider responsibility seriously and makes the attempt to be truly representative.

Neil suggests that people like Rufus Guinchard, Pius Power and John Joe English wouldn't be able to play at the festival now because "......people have to submit CDs and CVs in order to get accepted". Again, a quick look at the program reveals just how absurd this statement is. Out of 41 people/acts appearing on the main stage, 22, or 54%, do not have CDs available. These people played the festival because someone brought them to the attention of the Programming Committee in the first place, and this avenue is open to anyone, including Neil, who knows of performers that can make a contribution to the festival program.

I am personally astounded to read Neil's charge that the Folk Festival committee and Newfoundlanders in general are racist because more people from outside the province aren't scheduled to perform. I repeat: This festival was founded as a venue for traditional Newfoundland music. Look at the constitution of the SJFAC. Its mandate is very clear. Any other culture in the world can take steps to protect or promote its culture, music, language, etc., and it becomes the cause celebre of every small "l" liberal on the planet; we try it in Newfoundland and are vilified as xenophobic or racist. Give me a break! I won't deny that there are racists among us, no more or less than any other society, I expect. We are an insular society; our history and geography have demanded it of us. But we've also been victims of discrimination both when we travel out of the province and from people who've come here thinking they know what's best for us. One of the most common manifestations of racism is the condemnation of an entire population with a sweeping generalization as Neil has done with this comment.

Newfoundland has benefited greatly from contributions made by people who have chosen to live here. This is true of the folk festival, and applies to people like Scott and Neil. While Neil asserts that it was "mainlanders who got the festival off the ground", my recollections and research point to the fact that it was a collaboration of like minded people from Newfoundland, Canada, America, the United Kingdom and Ireland, united by the fact that they recognized the importance of traditional music to the social and cultural fabric of this province, that created this festival as a venue for traditional music that didn't otherwise exist.

We all have ideas about what the folk festival and its musical content should be. There are things about every festival that I'd like to see done differently, but I have too much respect for active Board members and volunteers who work so hard to make the festival happen than to go taking cheap shots at them on festival weekend, especially when those allegations are so easily refuted by simply checking the facts. While I personally may be closer to Neil's hard core trad view of what the festival should be than Scott's anything goes version, the fact is we're twenty-five years on. There are very few true traditional folk singers left, and even fewer who are willing and able to travel and perform at a folk festival. The pressure brought to bear on the Programming Committee by local musicians wanting to perform at this festival is intense, and inevitably some people are disappointed. It's a thankless job for volunteers who carry it out, and each year's challenge is to strike a balance between what's happening in the provincial music community, what the audiences are coming to hear, the mandate of the SJFAC and the original intent behind the Folk Festival. At this year's festival, for example, perfect strangers made comments to me ranging from, and I quote, "...he's a really good player but does that kind of music belong at this folk festival?" to "...the festival seems to be a lot more traditional this year." Clearly, the Programming Committee is doing something right.

The economics of producing a festival have changed also. 20-25 years ago, this was the only festival around, and funding was more readily available. Since then, not only has government funding for these events been severely reduced, but there are countless festivals throughout the province competing for the same dollar. People may lament the presence of the merchandising tent or the beer tent (which at one point was situated in the field just down from the front of the stage), but some funding agencies require that the applicant demonstrate ways in which it can generate some of its own revenue. The SJFAC has been quite responsible in pursuing these fund raising avenues in order to ensure the continued viability and longevity of this festival.

While it's all very well for people to long for the "good old days" of the early festivals, those were also the days when performers names appeared on the program without them ever being invited or knowing they were scheduled to perform. The days when some of the older traditional performers were left sitting around on the festival site for hours because there weren't enough volunteers around to help look after them, one of the reasons that a lot of older performers stopped coming to this festival. The days when the beer tent had priority over everything else by being situated out on the field in front of the stage. The days when Newfoundlanders still thought that any musical group from outside the province naturally had to be better than anything local. Yes, there were great traditional performers and there was a certain amount of charm exuded by the simplicity of the setup, but the festival would never have had staying power had it not become much more tightly organized. The fact is, audiences grew faster than the festival, and folk festival committees were left to continuously struggle with trying to accommodate growing numbers of people. On this 25th anniversary, I think congratulations are in order for the SJFAC's role in providing a venue for folk music in this province in all its forms, developing a broader interest in folk and traditional music among the general population, and contributing to the growth of the music-loving community. To denounce the Council for somehow straying from a narrow personalized view of what the festival should be, while ignoring both its history and present-day realities, seems churlish and shortsighted.

Finally, rather than yapping like a bunch of saucy crackies at the heels of the people doing all the work, if we don't like the way the festival is being run, we can volunteer for the Board of Directors or the Folk Festival committee, thereby working from within to bring about the changes we'd like to see.

Incidentally, it was a great festival; one of the best. Congratulations to all who built it.

Yours truly,
Jim Payne